Three-player chess game apparatus

ABSTRACT

A game apparatus consisting of a hexagonal, planar board comprising a plurality of equi-dimensional, contiguous, uniformly distributed hexagonal playing spaces thereon and three sets of chessmen adapted to be disposed on the board and to be moved thereover in accordance with the rules of the game. The board has a hexagonal periphery including three sides made up of eight playing spaces each and three sides made up of six playing spaces each. One-third of the spaces are of a first color, one-third of a second color, and one-third of a third color, and the spaces are so arranged that each space is completely surrounded by spaces of a different color. The sets of chessmen are differently colored and each includes nine pawns, two rooks, two bishops, two knights, a queen and a king.

[ Dec. 11, 1973 1 i THREE-PLAYER CHESS GAME APPARATUS [76] Inventor:Norman L. Hale, PO. Box 246,

Santa Cruz, N. Mex. 87567 221 Filed: Apr. 14, 1972 21 Appl. No.: 244,040

[52] U.S. Cl. 273/131 AB, 273/131 F, 273/131 L,

FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 616,572 1/1949 Great Britain 273/131 AB3,214 1902 Great Britain 1. 273/131 L Primary Examiner-Delbert B1 LoweAtt0rney1'1arvey B. Jacobson [57] ABSTRACT A game: apparatus consistingof a hexagonal, planar board comprising a plurality of equi-dimensional,contiguous, uniformly distributed hexagonal playing spaces thereon andthree sets of chessmen adapted to be disposed on the board and to bemoved thereover in accordance with the rules of the game. The board hasa hexagonal periphery including three sides made up of eight playingspaces each and three sides made up of six playing spaces each.One-third of the spaces are of a first color, one-third of a secondcolor, and one-third of a third color, and the spaces are so arrangedthat each space is completely surrounded by spaces of a different color.The sets of chessmen are differently colored and each includes ninepawns, two rooks, two bishops, two knights, a queen and a king.

4 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures PATENTEDHEC 1 1 I915 SHEET 1 or 2 Fig.

Red

White Whi'le White PAIENIEDUECI 1 I975 3.778.065 sum 2 OF 2 Fig. 4 Fig.5

While WhiIe Fig .6 Fig. 7

a: EH25 :::::::::n 1 f 5 a x- 3 i 0 sq: Q Q 8555 0| 2 03 .4 pa X: Al X4X3 X3 X2 1 l X I 1? X6 x4 White White THREE-PLAYER CHESS GAME APPARATUSThe present invention relates to a game apparatus and, moreparticularly, to a chess apparatus and game for three players.

A chess game which may be simultaneously played by three persons hasheretofore been proposed. For example, an apparatus for such a game isdisclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,533,627 wherein a hexagonal board having142 equilateral triangular playing spaces thereon is used in conjunctionwith three sets of the conventional 16 chessmen.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a chessgame apparatus suitable for simultaneous play by three players.

It is another object of this invention to provide a chess game apparatuswherein the game board consists of a plurality of hexagonal playingspaces, which board is simple and easy to use and thereby contributes tothe enjoyment of the game.

It is still another object of this invention to provide a chess gameapparatus for use in conjunction with 17 chessmen of 6 different types,each different type of which has its own unique ability to move over agame board.

Other objects and advantages will beocme apparent from the followingdescription and appended claims.

Briefly stated, in accordance with the aforesaid objects, the presentinvention provides a game apparatus comprising a hexagonal, planar gameboard having a plurality of hexagonal playing spaces thereon, a firstcolor indicia marking one-third of said spaces, a second color indiciamarking one-third of said spaces and a third color indicia marking theremaining one-third of said spaces. The apparatus further includes threesets of chessmen, each set consisting of nine pawns, two rooks, twobishops, two knights, a queen and a king. For ease of description, eachchessman will be identified herein and in th drawings by the firstletter of its name, except the knight which will be designated by lLN-I!The invention will be better understood from the following descriptiontaken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

FIG. I is a plan view of the game board of the present invention showingthree sets of chessmen positioned thereon for the start of a game.

FIG. 2 shows, in schematic fashion, all possible diagonal movements of achessman. FIG. 3 shows, in schematic fashion, the files of the gameboard of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 shows the conventional movements of a pawn on the game board ofFIG. 1 according to the rules of the three-player chess game.

FIG. 5 shows a situation on the game board of FIG. 1 in which a pawnsadvance may be partially or completely blocked in accordance with therules of the three-player chess game.

FIG. 6 shows situations on the game board of FIG. 1 in which (I)diagonal movement of a diagonally movable chessman may be blocked, and(2) a pawn may capture in passing, according to the rules of thethreeplayer chess game.

FIG. 7 shows situations on the game board of FIG. 1 in which a pawn mayattack and capture according to the rules of the three-player chessgame.

Referring now to the drawings there is shown in FIG. I a three-playerchess board which consists of a hexagonal playing surface containing aplurality of equidimensional, contiguous, uniformly distributedhexagonal olaying spaces thereon. Preferably the board contains 126hexagonal playing spaces of which 42 are identified by marking with afirst indicia, 42 are identified by marking with a second indicia and 42are identified by marking with a third indicia. Preferably the indiciaare different colors and may, in a particularly preferred embodiment, bethe colors red, white and black. The hexagonal playing surface includesthree sides consisting of eight playing spaces each and three sidesconsisting of six playing spaces each. Within the hexagon defined bythese six sides the remaining hexagonal playing spaces are contiguouslyand uniformly distributed. The indicia are marked on the playing spacesand the spaces are arranged in such a manner that each playing space iscompletely surrounded by playing spaces marked with different indicia.Thus each red playing space is surrounded, in the particularly preferredembodiment, by black and white playing spaces only. For ease and clarityof description, the invention will be hereinafter described inconnection with a game board marked with the color indicia red, whileand black, it being understood however that the indicia useful in thepresent invention may constitute any identifiable markings whatsoever.

Each of the eight playing space sides is termed a base line or startingposition for each player and, for convenience, each base line isidentified by the indicia which appears in only two of the eight spaces.Thus, in the particularly preferred embodiment, as can be seen in FIG.1, the white base line contains three red playing spaces, three blackplaying spaces and two white playing spaces. In like manner the red andblack base lines contain two red and two black playing spaces,respectively. One preferred manner of distributing color indicia on theplaying spaces is to arbitrarily select a base line, denominate it thewhite base line, and, commencing at the right edge of the base line andmoving across it to the left, marking the spaces sequentially with thecolors red-black-white-red-black-white-red-black. Having established thewhite base line in this manner, the remaininghexagonal playing spaces onthe board may be marked by following the single rule that each playingspace must be completely surrounded by playing spaces marked with adifferent color. FIG. 1 shows the game board of the present inventionwith each of the base lines identified and each of the hexagonal playingspaces marked with a single identifying color. It will be noted that thecolor arrangement is such that for each hexagonal playing space thematrix lines radiating outwardly from each of its six vertices connectdirectly to a playing space marked with the same color.

In order to-more clearly describe the game board and the movements ofthe chessmen thereon, it is come nient to identify the rows of hexagonalplaying spaces parallel to each base line as ranks. As can be seen inFIG. 1, which identifies and numbers the white" ranks, there are 13ranks for each color.

The term files is applied to parallel rows of hexagonal playing spaceswhich connect one base line with another. Thus, as can be seen in FIG.3, the letter A" de .notes the red-white or white-red file, B denotesthe black-white or white-black file, and C" denotes the black-red orred-black file. It will be apparent that each file is identified by thebase lines which it connects.

"Diagonals are the straight lines of connected hexagons, marked withlike indicia, which are connected by the matrix lines radiatingoutwardly from te vertices of each hexagonal playing space on the board.FIG. 2 shows that for playing space designated F" three diagonals passtherethrough, each diagonal extending through opposite vertices of thehexagon.

The playing pieces utilized with the game board of FIG. 1 include 17conventional chessmen, i.e. the conventional l6-piece chess set plus anadditional pawn. Thus each of the three complete sets of chessmen usedin the three-player chess game includes nine pawns, two rooks, twoknights, two bishops, one queen and one king. Each set is separatelymarked with an identifying indicia, preferably corresponding to theindicia of the chess board. In the particularly preferred embodiment thesets of chessmen are marked with the colors red, black and white tocorrespond to the red, black and white game board shown in FIG. 1. Thepower of each of the six different kinds of chessmen is reflected in itsown peculiar ability to move over the board. The value of each chessmanis also directly relates to its power over the entire playing surface.While, as hereinbefore indicated, chessmen in each of the three setscorrespond to the conventional types of chessmen used in two-playerchess games, these otherwise conventional chessmen move over thethree-player game board in a unique manner.

As in conventional chess, the king is the major piece on the board andis always the tallest piece. Its power limits its use as an aggressiveor attack piece. The king moves one hexagonal playing space at a time inany direction, along a file or a diagonal, thus giving it the ability tomove to any one of 12 different positions. It may not move to a positionattacked by an adverse piece or a position occupied by a piece of itsown color. The value of the king is absolute and no numerical valuationapplied since the loss of the king means loss of the game.

The queen is the most powerful piece on the board and is the secondtallest piece. Its power derives from being able to move in anydirection along straight lines of unoccupied hexagonal playing spaces,either along files or diagonals, and for any distance. The numericalvalue of the queen is nine as it has the ability to attack any positionon the board.

The rook also has the ability to attack any position on the board, asdows the queen, but does not have the power to move diagonally. Itsmoves must be along the unoccupied tiles in a straight line. Thenumerical value of the rook is five.

The knight may move one position along any file and then changedirection along another file for two positions. The angle thus formedmust be open or obtuse. The knights are not hampered by any of thepositions being occupied by another piece of any color except for thefinal position. It will be appreciated that the knight always terminateson a hexagonal playing space marked with a different color than thecolor ofits starting space. The numerical value of the knight is three.

The bishop is limited to moving along diagonal lines only. It will beapparent from FIG. 1 that the bishops are initially positioned onplaying spaces marked with colors matching the color of the set ofchessman to which they belong, and, inasmuch as bishops are limited todiagonal movement, they will only move along playing spaces marked withtheir own color. The numerical value of the bishop is two.

The pawn is the shortest piece on the board. It moves only away from itsown base line on either file. It may never move parallel to nor towardits own base line. On its initial move, it has the option of movingeither one or two playing spaces in a straight line along either file.Thereafter, it may only move one position at a time. It may, however,change course. The numerical value of the pawn is one. As can be mostclearly seen in FIG. 4, pawn P, may elect to move two positions on itsinitial move along either file to playing spaces designated X-l and X-2.Alternatively, it may move only one position, as shown, whereby pawn Pmay move to playing spaces designated Yl and Y-2.

A pawns advance is said to be blocked when the adjacent hexagonalplaying space along the shortest file to the nearest adverse base lineis occupied by any other piece. A blockedpawn may not elect to move onthe alternative file normally open to it. This situation is illustratedin FIG. 5 wherein adverse piece 0 is shown occupying the hexagonalplaying space adjacent pawn P, along the shortest file, red-while, tothe nearest adverse base line, red. Thus P, is blocked from advancingeither along the red-white file or along its normally availablealternative, the black-white file. In similar manner, adverse piece 0blocks the movement of P, along either file. However, adverse piece 0blocks pawn F from advancing only along the black-white file but doesnot block its movement along the red-white file since adverse piece 0 isnot positioned relative to P along the shortest file to the nearestadverse base line, but rather along the longest file.

Blocking may also occur with respect to any piece which has the abilityto move on the diagonal, e.g. the queen and the bishop. Such a piece isdeemed to be blocked when two pieces on adjacent hexagons flank thediagonal along which it is moving. Thus, as shown in FIG. 6, bishop B,is blocked from moving along the indicated diagonal to position X-l bythe fact that it would have to advance between diagonal flanking piecesA, and A However, B, may move to position X-2 on the same diagonalinasmuch as such a move will not require that it move between blockingpieces A, and A,. If either one of the blocking pieces is moved, thediagonal is then open for further advancement.

All pieces except the pawn capture in the same way as they move. Thecapture is effected by displacing the adverse piece if an adverse piecestands on a hexagonal playing space that any other piece can normallymove to, except for a pawn, the move captures it. The captured piece isremoved from the board and the position it occupied is taken by itscaptor. The pawn alone has a different method of capture. It cannotattack a piece on either file to which it normally could move. Instead,if a piece is positioned on either file, as hereinbefore exaplined,movement of the pawn along either or both files may be blocked. Indeed,the pawn may not attack along a file. The pawn attacks and captures onespace along any of the three diagonal positions comprising a move awayfrom its own base line. In FIG. 7 white pawn P, may capture an adversepiece positioned on any of spaces X-l, X-2 or X-3. It may not capture apiece on spaces X4, X-5 or X-6 since such a move would constitute a movetoward its own base line. A blocked pawn retains the ability to captureany piece moving within the scope of its attack, thereby breaking theblock. Thus, referring again to FIG. 7, pawn P may capture opposingpieces 0, or 0 notwithstanding the fact that opposing piece 0 wouldotherwise block movement of pawn P The pawn has still anotherpeculiarity. Due to its ability to elect a 2-space initial move, itcould conceivably avoid capture by an adverse pawn by electing to movetwo spaces instead of one, thereby moving past the position under attackby the adverse pawn. This situation is depicted in H6. 6 wherein pawn Phas position X-3 under attack. Adverse pawn P noting that position X-3is under attack could elect an initial two-space move to position X-4and thereby move past the position under attack by P In order that nounfair advantage be realized by the choice of the two-space openingmove, any pawn such as P may be captured in passing (en passant) by pawnP, as if the opening pawn had moved only one space. Thus, if P moves twospaces to position X-4, pawn P may capture P by moving to X-3 andremoving the opening pawn F from the board. Such a capture in passingmust take place on the very next move available to P, after P haselected the two-space move. Failure to exercise the privilege to capturein passing on the very next move following the two-space opening move,constitutes a waiver of the privilege.

The method of play is very much analogous to the rules governingconventional two-player chess. When the indicia are the colors white,red and black, as shown in FIG. 1, white moves first, followed by blackand then red in a clockwise fashion. The object of the game is to effectthe capture of both adverse kings. The capture, however, is neveractually made. If either king is attacked and there is no way of escape,it is said to be checkmated. The conquering player then assumes commandof the defeated kings remaining forces and proceeds to resume the attackon the remaining adverse king. Play then shifts to an alternation ofmoves and the combined. forces are considered to be one. In the processof an attack on an adverse king, a player is required to announce thathe has placed that particular king in check or the check cannot beconsidered valid. Due to the complexity of three-player chess, it ispossible for a king to be inadvertently placed in check" without eitherthe attacker or the attacked being aware of it. Such a situation doesnot constitute a mis-play, nor require the board to be returned to theposition when the inadvertent checking move was first made. It doesmean, however, that whenever the attacking player realizes that thecheck has been placed, he must announce the check and then the checkedplayer must parry the check on his very next move. It is also possiblethat a king may be placed in check by both adverse players, onefollowing the other. However, the player first placing a king in checkresulting in a checkmate is declared victor over the king and assumescommand of the kings remaining pieces. At the time that a king isdefeated and taken over, the defeated king ceases to be designated aking insofar as no additional check or checkmate may be placed againstthe defeated king. The defeated king becomes merely another piece in thecommand of the conquering player and retains the same ability to moveand capture as any king. The defeated king can be used to check orcheckmate the other king, or can even be allowed to be captured.

No player may resign from the game as long as all three players arestill functioning on the board. However, in the opening stages of thegame, a particular player may find itself so decimated in strength as tobe virtually powerless to effect a checkmate. Such a player may elect todeclare neutrality if the combined numerical values of his remainingpieces total eight or less, and providing that such player elects todeclare neutrality in lieu of his very next move after becoming soweakened, and providing further that he is not in check by anotherplayer. If such a player does not de clare neutrality immediately aftertotalling eight or less points, he loses opportunity to do so at afuture time. Upon legally declaring neutrality, all remaining piecesbelonging to the neutral player must remain fixed in the positions theyoccupied when neutrality was declared throughout the remainder of thegame and can neither capture nor be captured. The neutral pieces have nofurther effect on the game other than that of being obstacles. The tworemaining players then move alternately to determine the outcome of thegame. After a player has been defeated or has legally declaredneutrality, then either ofthe two remaining players may resign, at theirown discretion, thereby ending the game, or they may continue to playuntil the outcome is decided by a final checkmate or a drawn game. Agame may be drawn where: (1) there is not enough power in the remainingpieces to force a checkmate (lack of force); (2) the players agree todraw after each has completed his thirtieth move (agreement); (3) oneplayer demonstrates that he can continually check the adverse king(perpetual check): and, (4) a player finds that he can make no legalmove without placing his king in check although his king is not in checkbefore the move (stalemate).

Castling is a move that can be made, if at all, only once in a game. Itis actually a move of two pieces at once, the king and one rook. Themove is legal only if both pieces stand on their original hexagonalplaying spaces and neither has moved previously, if the two or threehexagonal playing spaces between king and rook are vacant, if the kingis not in check, and if the two hexagonal playing spaces the king mustcross are not guarded by an adverse player. Castling consists of movingthe king two hexagonal playing spaces toward the rook and then placingthe rook on the hexagonal playing space jumped over by the king. It willbe appreciated that the purpose in castling may be to remove the king toa place of greater security behind unmoved pawns or to connect the rooksand bring them to central files that have been partially or whollycleared by pawn advances.

Queening is the act of advancing a pawn to either adverse base linewithout it.being captured. Upon reaching the adverse base line the pawnmay be exchanged for a queen, rook, bishop or knight. Queening is legaleven if the player still has his queen. There is no limit to the numberof queens a player may have. If one ad verse player has been defeated,the player who has control of the defeated players pieces can only queena pawn of either of the sets of chessmen under his control by advancingthe pawn to the remaining adverse players base line. The remainingopponent has the advantage of being able to queen a pawn at either ofthe adverse base lines. If one player has legally declared neutrality,no queening is permitted at the neutral base line.

While the present invention has been described with respect toparticular embodiments thereof, it will be understood that numerousmodifications can be made by those skilled in the art without actuallydeparting from the scope of the invention. Accordingly, all suitablemodifications and equivalents may be resorted to which fall within thescope of the invention as claimed.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

1. A game apparatus for three-players comprising:

a. a hexagonal game board having a planar surface,

a plurality of equi-dimensional, hexagonal playing spaces uniformlydistributed over and occupying substantially the entire surface area ofsaid board, three sides of said board consisting of eight adjacentplaying spaces alternating with three sides of said board consisting ofsix adjacent playing spaces, first indicia on one-third of said spaces,second indicia on one-third of said spaces, and third indicia onone-third of said spaces, adjacent spaces having said indicia aredifferent colors.

3. A game apparatus, as claimed in claim 2, wherein the right sideplaying space of each said eight playing space sides has a differentcolor thereon.

4. A game apparatus, as claimed in claim 3, wherein said board consistsof 126 playing spaces.

1. A game apparatus for three-players comprising: a. a hexagonal gameboard having a planar surface, a plurality of equi-dimensional,hexagonal playing spaces uniformly distributed over and occupyingsubstantially the entire surface area of said board, three sides of saidboard consisting of eight adjacent playing spaces alternating with threesides of said board consisting of six adjacent playing spaces, firstindicia on one-third of said spaces, second indicia on onethird of saidspaces, and third indicia on one-third of said spaces, adjacent spaceshaving different indicia thereon and each space other than a spacepositioned on one of said sides totally surrounded by spaces havingdifferent indicia thereon, said spaces containing said first, second andthird indicia being uniformly intermixed throughout said plurality ofspaces; and b. three sets of chessmen, each set having indicia thereoncorresponding to one of said three indicia and consisting of 17 chessmenincluding nine pawns.
 2. A game apparatus, as claimed in clAim 1,wherein said indicia are different colors.
 3. A game apparatus, asclaimed in claim 2, wherein the right side playing space of each saideight playing space sides has a different color thereon.
 4. A gameapparatus, as claimed in claim 3, wherein said board consists of 126playing spaces.